Assassin's Creed: Thanks for the Memories
by Jon Repesh
Summary: Should an animus be used solely to access assassin's memories? The granddaughter of an infamous victim thinks otherwise.


On the surface Abstergo Industries is no different than any conglomerate. They are a multinational corporation operating various companies, plus routinely exploring new ventures. Some entail buyouts or mergers involving established product, while others are spawned internally through research and development. The latter result from decisions reached behind closed doors and privy to top personnel. All quite common, yet Abstergo is unique in one regard. While their research transpires in conventional labs, the desired goal differs. Their focus is not tied to future design, but the quest for past knowledge. To achieve this requires a device conceived for that purpose. It allows the user to retrieve genetic memories, thus vicariously living the past. Not only does one study forebears, but the time and place of their existence. This by itself is remarkable. Then affix the bounty of skill transference, an intriguing offshoot coined the Bleeding Effect. Surely an ominous term with equally ominous consequence like amnesia and psychosis. Promise and peril conjoined in a device named the animus, deemed the next phase in virtual reality with a historical twist.

That last point is relevant. Abstergo considers themselves modern Knights Templar, part crusader and part assassin. Which part is favored is further debate. To promote their cause the animus is used on Order descendents in search of artifacts, yet its full potential is vast. Some propose all historical mysteries are solvable merely by engaging the right people. Why limit the interest solely to assassins. Descendants of victims are open to unravelling familial intrigue. Indeed a valid view, one a certain progeny ponders endlessly. However the obstacles are many. Abstergo maintains its own agenda and disdains investigation in variance. Still the questions burn and demand results. For one committed woman, the call for closure commands.

It's Monday morning in the office of Research Director Lee Varick. He's interviewing new recruit and pending test subject Sharon Hawn.

"**Welcome to Abstergo, Ms. Hawn."**

"Thank you. I've been looking forward to this day since my acceptance."

"**I apologize for the delay, but thorough background checks are policy and critical to success."**

"Thorough indeed. Back tracking hundreds of years certainly applies."

"**Time restrictions oblige it. We receive hundreds of inquiries daily, and the cost of producing more animi is prohibitive."**

"I feel honored."

"**You should, but mostly feel welcomed. The proper outlook is vital to establishing secure links."**

"I've heard the animus described as sentient."

"**Bestowing that attribute to a machine is curious, though anything that interacts with the human brain in a reciprocal and adaptive fashion could qualify."**

"Both wondrous and weird at the same time."

"**For a history buff like me it's wondrous. I'll leave the weird debate to others."**

"Controversy does surround it. Do you read the press?"

"**I have neither the time nor inclination. Public relations and marketing handle that."**

"Does anyone know what you do?"

"**You've read the confidentiality agreements. We're all bound by them."**

"It must be frustrating not being able to tell people, especially for one who takes pride in their work."

"**I'm single. My work **_**is **_**my life, so for me it's unimportant."**

"But we're social creatures. Sharing is part of our makeup."

"**If you have someone to share with."**

"I imagine Abstergo prefers single people, at least in this area."

"**While other departments take standard honesty tests before employment, we undergo a detailed psych profiling, as you well know." **

"I had to come back on three different occasions to complete them."

"**I'm looking at the results now. There are two points of interest that need clarifying. It says you had a family member disappear and foul play was conceivable. Is it true he was involved in organized crime?"**

"Yes."

"**Was this commonly known?"**

"By inference. His work sparked allegations."

"**Do you know his exact role?"**

"He had a public role built upon a private foundation. What information I have is hearsay. I'm sure you understand my reservations about its accuracy."

"**Yet we work with suppositions."**

"Which requires a controlled environment. Real life is hardly that, if my grandfather's life even qualifies as real."

"**Brutally real. Since he may have met an unnatural death, do you believe he was involved in the deaths of others?"**

"Do I think he was a killer?"

"**Yes."**

"It's possible, indirectly. I don't think he committed the acts himself, but he could have sanctioned them."

"**It also says he controlled substantial amounts of money."**

"Quite substantial. Millions."

"**Has this money ever been accounted for?"**

"That question too remains a mystery. Much of it was placed in off shore accounts and slush funds. It could still be there."

"**Abstergo has an ancilliary interest in money. If we help recoup assets, a modest recovery fee is assessed."**

"My interest lies in the whys and wherefores, not amounts."

"**I was simply offering additional benefits."**

"I understand."

"**Well that covers my concerns. I can set up your melding tomorrow. A thirty minute meditation session is required beforehand to unclutter the mind and induce reception to interface."**

"Interface. Makes _me_ sound like a machine."

"**Just a word. Think only of the glorious experience awaiting you."**

"I like your manner. Quite inspirational."

"**Strange. I've always considered myself detached. My work demands it."**

"Yet you need balance, even if your work _is _your life."

"**Would you like me to attend the test?"**

"Yes."

"**Then we're on. I'll see you tomorrow at nine."**

For Sharon morning can't come soon enough. The disappearance of her grandfather has been an obsession since school when she first read about it in articles and magazines. Her memories have faded over time but still rouse warm feelings. Their time together was brief. No surprise considering his stature, though it was characterized by love, emotions belying his stern demeanor. While her entire family was touched by his loss, it was hardest on her. He made her feel special, nurturing her inner self. She always displayed sensitivity and insight, two traits that inspired her quest and enabled her acceptance in the animus program. One trait foreign was useful too. Pretense was deployed. Regrettable yet necessary, for without it she may have been summarily declined, if not legally detained, if Abstergo knew her true motivation for seeking answers. Revenge!

Tuesday morning arrives with dark clouds projecting inclement weather. Whether viewed a heavenly cleansing or ominous portent hinges on one's perspective as Sharon enters the underground lab for her nine o'clock session.

"**Good morning."**

"Sharon I presume."

"**And your name is….."**

"My birth certificate reads Katrina, but you can call me Kat."

"**Okay Kat. I'm here for a nine o'clock appointment, but I'm early. I couldn't sleep."**

"Understandable. All first timers are nervous."

"**I prefer to think excited. Should I be nervous?"**

"That depends what's awaiting you on the other side."

"**Answers hopefully."**

"Yet some questions are best left _unanswered_."

"**Speaking from experience?"**

"Speaking from witnessing those who sought and later wish they hadn't."

"**That's…discouraging. Where's Dr. Varick?"**

"He was called away suddenly. They asked me to fill in."

"**Is that normal?"**

"If you're looking for normal, you're in the wrong place."

"**It's just that he said he'd be here." **

"You sound disappointed. Won't I do?"

"**It's not that. There's certainly a lot of security down here. I didn't notice any yesterday on the fourth floor."**

"That's because no one cares about the fourth floor. There's only people there. The valuable stuff is here."

"**Apparently."**

"You have no idea how many companies would love to get their hands on an animus, or the blueprints to construct one."

"**It's rather complex and costly, isn't it?"**

"Above my pay grade on both counts."

"**I understand a Mr. Vidic designed it."**

"So I'm told."

"**I also understand he met an untimely death."**

"That too."

"**On December 21, 2012."**

"Creepy huh?"

"**His cause of death was never disclosed."**

"And it's best not to ask questions about it. Around here that's a good policy in general."

"**Have you ever used the animus yourself?"**

"I have enough memories of my own, and one personality is plenty, thank you very much."

"**Are the side effects as bad as they say?"**

"That depends how stable you are to begin with. Just be glad you're not named Eve."

"**Inside joke?"**

"It's unoriginal I admit, but point taken."

"**If you're trying to scare me you're doing a hell of a job."**

"I'm only teasing, though you should know what you're getting into."

"**What percentage of people suffer side effects?"**

"I couldn't say. That's after care. Speaking of which, you'll be provided with paper and questionaire immediately upon retrieval. They want you to record everything about your experience while your memory is still fresh, and intact."

"**You could have left that last part out."**

"I know. I couldn't resist one last jab before your meditation session, which starts in one minute by the way. Ready for the bliss abyss?"

"**As ready as I'll ever be."**

Thirty minutes later the session ends and Sharon is escorted to the animus. A slight sedative is administered for further relaxation, followed by electrodes attached to her skull. Within seconds buttons are pushed, dials twisted, preparing everything for unity. She promptly slides into a dreamlike state and drifting aimlessly. Tingling sensations decree contact is imminent, a macabre blind date uncommon in the annals of relationships. Then it happens. The moment of entry is like plunging into an abyss. The initial jolt is both frightening and enlightening. It's distinctly eerie invading someone's mind, a body snatching equivalent to internal voyeurism. Forget the facts of neurons and synapses. Sensory feedback rules. Once in contact she may become fluent in another language or acquire the skills of a trained athlete, a direct correlation of their mental and muscle memory.

Thoughts start flooding in, some intense and others trivial. It's the former that matter. She needs to wade through the crap to get to the core. A pattern is forming, constant, fixated. Thoughts about a union, about staying in power. About the opposition, especially the opposition. It takes a few moments to collect _her_ thoughts, odd since they now coincide with another. This is where the lines blur, two becomes one, dichotomy becomes synchronicity. Synchronicity suggests harmony however, a dubious inference far from accurate. How does one maintain self when you're part of another. At this point she's unsure what she's experiencing. Are her sensory perceptions her own or that of her grandfather. No drug could produce this synthesis of psychotic sensations. How is this synergy of souls supposed to provide clarity.

Sharon's unease is palpable, embodied in a fear of answers not found. She senses an acute anxiety in her grandfather also, a tension not borne from routine duties. It runs deeper, extending clear to the bone, as if a decision's been made, one with little recourse. Or perhaps the opposite, when the realization hits that all options have elapsed, and with them whatever hope remained.

Suddenly the scene shifts as they enter a house, vacant except for certain people, the wrong people. Senses reel from the shock of deceit, but it's too late. Violence erupts. Sequential images of her grandfather shot stream by as if broadcast from a kaleidoscope. Indeed she just witnessed his murder, a surreal Zapruder film screened within a man's mind. A haunting emptiness pervades, and just as suddenly it ends, the interface over in direct connection with a man's life. Unbearable experience certainly yet one bearing results, for she now knows his killer's identity.

Her return is immediate, with after effects akin to awakening after a deep sleep. She's quickly taken offline and directed to a conference room for consultation.

"**Hello."**

"How'd everything go?"

"**Give me a few seconds to shake the cobwebs."**

"There is disorientation afterwards. It's normal. Have some coffee. The caffeine will clear your head."

"**It's not what I expected. "**

"In what way?"

"**I suppose I never thought it through. I was thinking I'd be more a casual observer, not an actual participant."**

"That's how a mind meld works. Two people sharing everything."

"**He seemed aware something was different. Is the person aware?"**

"We can only surmise. Judging by comments of others they felt the same way, but said no proof was evident. It was simply a feeling."

"**It was sad and scary at the same time."**

"Were you concerned about your safety?"

"**I didn't sense danger, but an adrenaline boost turned what was first a passive experience into one filled with urgency."**

"That's good for our purpose. It enhances the cognitive imprint on your brain."

"**I'm becoming alert. The images are vivid."**

"So you _did_ connect with your grandfather."

"**His mind was focused on important matters that day. There were only occassional flashes of other thoughts."**

"But that's what you were looking for, the important things."

"**Yet I was also curious about his feelings toward family."**

"And feelings toward you?"  
**"Yes, but nothing surfaced. Is it possible more insight will develop over time?"**

"Unlikely. That requires further sessions. There's only a certain amount of memory that can be accessed each time."

"**Well the most important thing I learned today, and for that I'm grateful."**

"You wanted to uncover the mystery of his disappearance. Did you succeed?"

"**It was as terrible as I feared. I saw everything. He was murdered like everyone thought. However I wasn't able to learn how they disposed of his body. The link ended immediately upon his death."**

"Of course. I'm sure it was a harrowing experience for you."

"**I can't imagine what he went through. Facing death is bad enough, but when one's betrayed by someone close it's even worse."**

"What happened?"

"**He was killed by a friend, a man he knew for years."  
**"Unfortunate."

"**I experienced his shock, and his anger, and I share that anger. I thought I was prepared for what I'd find, but it's too personal. I can't dismiss this as academic."**

"What are you saying?"

"**I feel rage. I feel scorn. I could just…"**

"You could just _what, _Ms. Hoffa?"

"**What did you call me?"**

"Ms. Hoffa. Ms. Sharon Hoffa."

"**My name is Sharon Hawn."**

"It may be now, but you were born Sharon Hoffa, granddaughter of Jimmy Hoffa."

"**So you know my real name. The time for pretense is over."**

"Yes."  
**"How long have you known?"**

"Since this morning, when we received the results of your DNA sample. There were other reasons for taking it besides the requirements of the animus."

"**I thought if I was upfront, you wouldn't have approved me."**

"Probably not. Besides the cost factor, we don't like being used for anyone's personal vendetta."

"**I'm sorry. I needed to find answers. I'll reimburse the company for its expenses."**

"It's not that. It's what you found out."

"**Is Abstergo concerned about my grandfather's murder?"**

"We're not concerned ourselves, but associates of ours are. This company required vast amounts of money to start. Creating the animus was costly. Many prototypes were designed before one worked. Traditional sources like banks disdain speculative ventures, especially when millions of dollars are involved. Other options had to be explored."

"**You're talking organized crime. But how does this relate to me?"**

"Where the money came from, a certain pension fund."

"**I don't believe it! Money from the fund my grandfather managed, money that got him killed, was used to start this company?!"**

"Ironic isn't it."

"**Where does that leave us?"**

"The information you possess can never be disclosed. Never."

"**What are you going to do, kill me too?"**

"Heavens no. We're not killers. However his disappearance has been unsolved for years, and it must remain so."

"**What if I promise to remain silent?"**

"Unfortunately that's not good enough, but there is a solution."

"**What?"**

"Memory removal. It's all legal. If you remember your non-disclosure agreement, it states we can do exactly that to prevent any harmful effect to the company."

"**So you're going to put me back on the animus and remove the memories."**

"In that regard we've hit a snag. The animus is a lone conduit device. It's only able to retrieve memories. It's not able to remove them."

"**Then what else is left?"**

"Lobotomy."


End file.
